Computer Security

After today's revelations about Apple's quiet intrusion upon our privacy I'm fortunate to have a reader who informs me about current computer and mobile security issues and he has suggested I may like to post his latest findings.

Some are related to PCs rather than Macs but that's not to say Macs are less susceptible to security attacks.

The links I was sent are here, here, here, here, here and here.  The last link reminds me that none of us are completely safe once we place personal details online.  Only last week I had an email from Marks and Spencer which said their system had been hacked and there was a possibility my name and address had been 'stolen'.  They assured me no other details had been accessed but is that the truth?

We can only do our best to protect ourselves by not buying from online sites which don't provide an authentic address and telephone number.  I check these out but I think luck has played a part in it too, because if Marks and Spencer's system isn't secure - and we know many US government sites aren't secure as Wikileaks proves - it's rather like playing eternal catch-up.

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Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

How would you like to be tracked today? Not just from home-to-office but everywhere.


Then, after work to the pub to have a bevvy-or-two, before arriving home with the excuse "sorry darling I had a late business appointment".


The tracking was not just during the day; it continued throughout the evening. They know exactly where you were. Every single one of those 1,440 minutes.


"They" also know how many phone calls you made; how many were incoming and how many were outgoing; how long you were on the phone; how many texts you sent and received. They even know you surfed for 2 hrs 24 minutes.


Did you enjoy the visit to the Theme Park last week? That 'Business Trip' to London - was it successful?


I realise my opening question asked how you'd mind a day of being tracked, but would you hold the same opinion if it was for a week? How about a month? Would you get paranoid if it was for all 525,600 minutes of the year?


Malte Spitz discovered he'd been tracked continuously for 6 months. The curious can follow his every location during that period from that link. But then he's lucky, because he's German.


For us in the UK, our network operators retain customers' historical locations for 12 months. And despite the date, it is NOT a wind-up.


Thanks to The Register.


Joe Public

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Today's Non-Story

Let today's story be a warning to all who use mobile phones in toilets.

The photograph was taken in Xi'an, China and the young woman - who looks as if she's resting - is anything but. After dropping her mobile phone down the pan - or should I say hole - she decided to recover it, only to find her arm firmly stuck. At first she was too embarrassed to cry for help but after eight hours trying to get free she began to scream. It looks, from the photograph, that it was a squat toilet she was using.

Rescuers had to remove the entire cubicle and demolish concrete surrounding the toilet.

She had been texting a pal when her mobile slipped out of her hand. How anyone manages to text while squatting beats me. Be warned!

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